Protection of fragile articles such as electric lamps having bulbous glass envelopes from breakage during shipping, storage and eventual display and handling at the retail store level is usually accomplished by placing the lamp in a suitable wrapper or carton at the lamp factory. The lamp typically remains in this carton until final sale to a purchaser at the retail store who eventually removes it for placement in an appropriate receptacle (socket). In view of the relatively delicate nature of these glass articles, such protection is absolutley essential. Understandably, in view of the large numbers of such products produced and sold annually in this country and throughout the world, the cost for providing such effective protection constitutes a significant factor in the lighting industry. Examples of efforts to provide reduced cost packages are illustrated in the following U.S. Pat. Nos.
3,526,352--Swett PA1 3,734,397--Cote PA1 3,750,934--Clinage PA1 4,134,531--Martinez et al PA1 4,561,542--Przepiora et al
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,526,352, there is shown a dispensing-type carton of octagonal configuration having flap elements which appear to provide a snap-action, self-locking end closure for the carton. This carton is designed especially for delicate food products such as potato chips. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,750,934, there is shown a fiberboard container having a hexagonal configuration including a series of inwardly turned, upwardly angled and apparently rigid panels formed from parts of the container's walls. These panels apparently provide some means of rigidifying the container to support the article (e.g., a light bulb) positioned therein. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,734,397, there is shown a carton of square cross-section for containing a parabolic reflector light bulb, the carton including a pair of yoke-like platforms formed by inwardly turned, upwardly angled and apparently rigid panels or flaps cut from the carton's walls for supporting the positioned bulb. These panels are also spaced apart so as to only engage opposite surfaces of the lamp's curved neck. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,134,531, the paperboard container (for cheese products) includes a tubular body portion of octagonal configuration which is apparently self-locking. Lastly, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,561,542, there is illustrated a carton of hexagonal configuration wherein panels cut from the carton's sides combined to form a platform wherein the contained article (light bulb) is frictionally retained.
Many of the above cartons, although considered of relatively firm and rigid construction capable of satisfactorily retaining the contained article(s), are deemed to be of such relatively complex construction that they are not considered readily adaptable to mass production techniques to assure a cost efficient end product. And those which are deemed more readily adaptable to such production (e.g., automatic loading and locking) are not considered satisfactory from the standpoint of effective product containment (e.g., preventing rotational or other undesirable product movement).
It is believed, therefore, that a display carton for an electric lamp or similar fragile article which provides sound article containment on a cost-effective basis such that the combined carton and contained article product can be readily produced on a mass production basis would constitute a significant advancement in the art.